Skin ageing habits you should stop *

Skin ageing doesn’t happen overnight. Contrary to popular belief, the signs of ageing like fine lines, wrinkles, and eye bags tend to develop overtime when a prolonged lifestyle of bad habits and dietary factors have been constantly practiced. Even when you use well-known products like Neutrogena, you can still be prone to skin problems if you don’t change some unhealthy lifestyle and habits.

Aside from skin problems, these habits also play a role in affecting your overall wellness and can play a contributing factor in the development of chronic diseases. To prevent ageing your skin and decrease your chance of incurring any potential conditions in the near future, here are some habits you should stop doing now:

1. Smoking

Probably the most obvious one but there are several studies regarding on the effects of smoking and how it can affect nearly every part of your body. In the case for our skin, smoking reduces the blood flow circulation by constricting our blood vessels, making our skin look dull and tired. It also contains toxins that rob the skin of its natural elasticity, resulting in wrinkles that usually form around our mouth, the corner of our eyes, as well as other areas of the body.

2. Drinking too much alcohol

A glass of red wine here and there is actually good for you because it contains antioxidants derived from its fermentation process. Regardless of the amount of vitamins, the presence of alcohol in cocktails and other commercial drinks can age our skin through dehydration, essentially making our skin look tired and lackluster. If you enjoy a night out, that’s absolutely fine! But always be wary of the amount of alcohol you consume and ensure you’re not going over your recommended weekly units.

3. Going to bed without removing your makeup

For people who love makeup, many of us are guilty of going to bed occasionally without removing our makeup beforehand. When practiced over and over again, this habit can effectively harm our skin by clogging our pores which makes us prone to breakouts. Since our skin requires sleep to heal itself, clogging our pores deprives its natural cycle from forming essentially ageing us faster than we realize.

4. Neglecting your hands and neck

When it comes to practicing skincare, many of us tend to just focus on the face which can be a huge mistake. While the skin on our face is sensitive, our necks and hands also have particularly sensitive skin which requires the same level of care since they can sag and wrinkle easily. To avoid ageing yourself faster than normal, use the same facial products on your neck while also rehydrating your hands with hand cream lotion every once in a while.

5. Not sleeping enough

Sleep is an important element we need to ensure our bodies renew itself after a day’s worth of work. During this cycle, our skin undergoes a rejuvenating process that replaces old skin cells with new ones while essentially balancing out our other bodily systems. The lack of sleep due to stress or consuming too much caffeine before bedtime deprive the body of its natural healing process and often results in puffy eye bags.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to ageing our skin, many of us are unaware that certain habits often take time to fully develop which is why it’s best to ditch these practices as soon as you recognize their problematic effects. Similar to the formation of ageing, treating our skin to proper practices to recover its former glory also takes time because the body is still adjusting itself to the new lifestyle you’re putting yourself under.

Well I’m glad I don’t smoke or drink alcohol, I remove my makeup before & I make sure I take care of my hands!
The only thing I have a problem with is getting enough sleep. Having a 3 year old daughter makes that a bit difficult 😅

I’m 27 and don’t smoke or drink alcohol so I’m halfway there! Also, I rarely wear makeup and prefer not to wear any, given the option. I feel like many people are short on sleep, especially university students. One thing I’ve noticed among people my age is dehydration which really does age the skin. I believe that dehydration is a huge concern and that we should all aim to drink 8-9 glasses of water each day. I’m the absolute worst for this which probably explains why I have quite a few skin problems.

I can safely say that I always go to bed having removed all of my makeup, and I’ve gotten pretty good at taking care of my beck, but I am so guilty of not getting enough sleep or of taking care of my hands. My goal is to consistently start getting 8-9 hours every night, and to invest in eye creams and night creams! Super informative post Jenny, I loved it, and it was a great reminder!

I want to mention that there are a LOT of new studies that have come out recently citing that any amount of alcohol is very bad for us and the glass of red wine is not giving us enough “antioxidants” to justify that as a point in its favor. Of course, all of this really depends on which studies we’re paying attention to and who is funding those results.

Best option: Know you own limits and listen to your body. 🙂

Ooh, but there’s another skin aging habit a lot of us engage in – too much time spent in the sun without strong enough SPF!

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Hi, I’m Jenny! Nice to meet you!

I'm a 26 year-old lifestyle blogger from Essex and I cover a whole bunch of topics from blogging advice, personal development, well-being, business and more! When I'm not blogging, you'll likely find me on my Yoga mat, reading a book or organizing something. I also love Motorsports, gaming, food and my dog.